Welcome to White Bird Mutual Aid! Our first episode gives a general introduction of White Bird Clinic, our core beliefs and some history. Current and former staff members, volunteers and community members share stories and insights.
To find out more about White Bird Clinic, visit whitebirdclinic.org.
Welcome to White Bird Mutual Aid! Our first episode gives a general introduction of White Bird Clinic, our core beliefs and some history. Current and former staff members, volunteers and community members share stories and insights.
To find out more about White Bird Clinic, visit whitebirdclinic.org.
Thanks for tuning in to the first episode of white bird mutual aid. I'm your host for the next half hour Hana Francis. Over the last several months, I've been collecting interviews with staff and community members about white bird clinic and what its value and role is in our society, and future episodes, I'll focus on specific conversations with individuals. But for this first episode, it's going to be a little different. I've gathered bits of conversations with people who are going to help introduce you to whiteboard clinic. So first, a little history. The collective started out as a medical care and crisis intervention service in the 1970s when two doctorate psychology students from the University of Oregon, Dennis Eck, Unger, and Frank lemons saw a need for alternative crisis response and care in the community. And the beginning White Bird Clinic was entirely made up of volunteers. Lemons was close with many people who lived together on a commune that made up the core volunteers of whiteboard clinic for many years. This is Jorge, a community member and longtime volunteer at White Bird Clinic. He lived on the commune that hosted the White Bird community up
Jorge Navarro:Up at CV Loop Road, they were 12345 different buildings. All situated near the I-5 still during that period of time, those five houses. Basically the folks that lived there were Lucy Lynch and Colleen Bell. Zach Schwartz, who started chrysalis and was one of the main folks started off with White Bird. Bobby Dritz, who was one of the main people that started it was living up there. Lucy Parker, a Douglas Parker. All of these folks were, they were already involved with Susan Johnson with the creation of White Bird
Hana Francis:He recounts his experience discovering Eugene in the 70s.
Jorge Navarro:So 1973, the, when we showed up in town, it was a Saturday. And we were the first thing we saw was the Saturday market. And we were blown away and we're we're from Los Angeles area. So it was like, wow, there's hippies everywhere around here. You know. Looking back now, I realized that it was a pretty historic time. Saturday market was maybe two years old. The Oregon Country Fair was the renaissance fair. And it was maybe two, three years old. chrysalis white bird was maybe two years old. So they were just just starting.
Hana Francis:White Bird clinic was formed in a time when the zeitgeist of Eugene was all about community. They made a lot of decisions as a collective from the beginning, even though it wasn't always horizontally LED. Jorge tells us about what this looks like.
Jorge Navarro:So at night, I mean, I wasn't involved with the everyday operation. But at night, after work, they'd get together. And I would get, you know, they would start having this meeting at around nine o'clock, 10 o'clock at night, and they would boil a pot of coffee. They'd all sit around this big long table at Susan's place, and debrief.
Hana Francis:The growing psychedelic movement in the 60s and 70s spurred the need for a different kind of care for people who are having quote unquote, bad trips. Law enforcement and hospitals did not understand how to deal with this situation and resorting to arresting people who are on substances or giving them high doses of tranquilizers to sleep it off. Neither of these methods are effective or human centered. Dentists and Frank however, thought that they could help with this problem. With the help of Dr. Leonard Jacobson, a well respected surgeon at the time, they started a psychosocial medical free clinic, closely based off the Haight Ashbury clinic in San Francisco trigger warning There are references to physical abuse in this next story.
Jorge Navarro:One of the, they had it was a concert. And instead of having white bird, they hired the athletic department to supply security and interface with the public. And I was there at one particular moment, while I watched their their staff, the woman was tripping out out in front of the fountain, and they didn't, they did not know what to do. And they ended up dragging her away by her hair, traumatizing her, and she just escalated. And it was like it would they almost caused the near riot just doing that, because then the rest of the people that were going to see the concert, who were probably tripping themselves and going, you know, getting shocked and traumatized by what was going on. Afterwards, they got feedback, you know, going, hey, you know, you, you you created your own trauma and an emergency. When you really, you know, you know, when you're the security team, you have to know that those are some of the skills you need. So that interaction led to more people looking to white bird. To understand that security wasn't just about having people follow the rules.
Hana Francis:The need for trauma informed Human Centered Care is still present today. To fill this need. whitebread has the volunteer run rock medicine team that provides crisis and medical response at concerts, festivals and community events. This is what Jorge was talking about. But it also has Cahoots Crisis Assistance helping out on the streets, which is a 24/7 medical and crisis intervention unit that is dispatched out of the police fire ambulatory line. Tim black a former Cahoots crisis worker talks a little about why the service is still important and relevant.
Tim Black:I mean, we see with like Daniel prude, you know, Walter walls Jr. kowski traywick so many other folks throughout the country are dying, you know, because it's law enforcement is that showing up to these crisis situations and that they're, that they're ill equipped for, you know, that they're not trained for it and really wear the uniform. The presence of force is likely what escalated these situations to become fatal. You know, we don't even have to look that far right there. Stacy Kenny, and Springfield, when she was killed by Sergeant Rick Lewis, who, by the way, got a Purple Heart commendation for Stacey Kenny's death, and the injuries that he received as a result of that violence. Stacy, Kenny's family had been reaching out to Springfield Police for a year asking for help. In the traffic stop, where she was killed. She was not posing a threat to you know, other community members, she stopped, rolled down her window through a small noisemaking device out the driver's side window and then tried to pull into traffic again. She had been expressing fear that she was going to be killed by public safety. And, you know, really, it was carrying that fear with her in the community, and was really responding to that fear of violence when she had that fateful encounter, you know, so I guess when when we're looking at this work, you know, the stakes are profoundly high. And, you know, really, every time we hear another example of somebody who has experienced violence or has been killed by police, when officers responded for that mental health crisis, it really reinforces that this is just not something that you can train better. You know, this isn't something where new policies and new standards in the work environment are going to change the outcomes. This is really about recognizing that that we are missing something from our response system. And that's something that we're missing is that mental health response, you know, have those first responders who aren't coming from that lens of enforcement, but rather from, you know, a perspective of least intervention necessary of de escalation and stabilization.
Hana Francis:White Bird Clinic strives to provide a variety of services that meet basic health and human needs, like food, clothing, shelter, safety, human interaction, access to hygiene, crisis intervention, mental health assistance. medical attention, and so on and so forth. There are a lot of people in Eugene and the rest of Oregon who do not have access to these basic needs. And it's worth mentioning that this is a national and global crisis. But that is beyond the scope of this episode. whitebread clinic strives to provide these services to people in Lane County who cannot get them elsewhere. Many of the people who receive services are experiencing homelessness are mentally or physically challenged, or are experiencing or have experienced some of the many forms of oppression, discrimination, and marginalization that runs rampant through American society.
Hayley Shapiro:The folks who we serve, these are people who maybe have tried a lot of other doors and have been turned away, or have, you know, been treated with our dignity and respect. And I think that white bird kind of swoops in at that point in time to say, like, we see you. We may not understand your experience from a first person perspective, but we empathize with your experience. Because there are a lot of things that are happening in this world that are unfair, and unjust and violence. And here are the services that we can provide. And the way in which we're going to provide them is like, yeah, meeting meeting people where they're at
Hana Francis:front rooms, Nest, medical, dental, and many other branches of white bird have been formed and tailored to try to meet the needs of those who cannot get these services elsewhere. White Bird clinic tries to address these needs in a holistic and humanistic way. Matt And Haley the white bird volunteer and training coordinators help to explain what this means in context.
Hayley Shapiro:It historically and philosophically whiteboards mission is like to create or recreate a model of care that is client centered, that is centered around people's individuality and dignity. And that really prioritizes holding people in unconditional positive regard. So I think one of the really foundational pillars of white bird and the folks who are attracted to working here and the work that we do is that we understand that the systems in which we live are really unjust, and impact people in a lot of different ways, especially depending on the intersection of identities that you hold. And so think that white bird understands the kind of oppression that exists within the world that we live in, and seeks to meet people in a way that those systems are not
Matthew Brookens:the individual- any person - is the expert in their own lives.
Hana Francis:This can look like understanding that when a person comes to get medical attention, they may also need clothes and food, someone to talk to, and that kind of thing. We strive to meet as many of these needs as possible, so long as the individual wants that assistance. To talk to you more about some of the core values and methodologies that inform this practice of Human Centered Care, former kahootz crisis worker and of the consulting department, Tim black.
Tim Black:You know, I think that the four kind of big pillars that I talked about when it comes to wiper clinic at large, not just Cahoots is being person centered, being trauma informed, utilizing harm reduction, and then our structure as a consensus based collective, those are really kind of the four tenants. And the reason that I highlighted that way is that we need to be person centered, we need to be trauma informed, and we need to utilize, you know, harm reduction skills in our interactions with each other as part of a collective, and being forced to really use those skills to make decisions around what color we paint in office, or how we're going to spend money or new policies being developed, really grounds us in those concepts when we then go out and engage with folks who are in crisis or, you know, folks who are receiving care from, you know, any wiper provider. Yeah. So I define being kind of person centered versus really recognizing that the, you know, the individuals expert in their lived experience. And so, when you're talking about a crisis intervention, I can talk to you until I'm blue in the face about all of the things that worked well for me all of my constructive coping skills, and you know, I can tell you, Okay, you know, go take a bath, read a chapter out of this book, listen to this podcast, you're gonna cook this meal with this kind of tea, and it's going to be amazing. And that would be great if Tim was in crisis and needed a reminder of those things. But the person in crisis is not me. And so I really need to ask them, what is it that suits you? You know, what, where do you find comfort, what works for you what doesn't, you know, and so it's really centering everything that we do around, you know, the expertise of the person that we're serving. You know, being trauma informed, is really recognizing that everybody, you know, has experienced trauma in some capacity, and that we have an obligation to create systems and to interact with each other in ways that reduce the, the impact of that trauma, you know, in less than its effects. Harm reduction is really just about kind of is tied directly to that is really about when there are harmful or maladaptive practices, what are the things that we can do to reduce that harm on the individual? Or others? You know, some and so, you know, in the context of business meetings, you know, that's, that's where a lot of compromise comes in, you know, is it you know, you know, where are we? Where can we do the least amount of harm with with reductions to funding, you know, what is it that we can do to find other ways to address this, this service gap, you know, that may be emerging, and then being a consensus based collective really means moving away from the traditional hierarchical organizational structure. And instead, you know, we kind of talk about orbits where there are these different orbits of perspective, and you need to really kind of bring all of those different perspectives together, and find agreement and find compromise, you know, and develop these things that, you know, everybody's able to move forward with, even if it's not, you know, the ideal solution that you came into that conversation expecting to get. It means it means really letting go of outcomes.
Hana Francis:The consensus model mostly is still used. But like many nonprofits, we have a board of directors. To understand the dynamic between the board and the community consensus, I spoke to board member Murray Sol Cordero Goodman Asmodee. So what she personally found to be the importance of white bird clinic in the community
Marisol Cordero-Goodman:will turn in traditional senses, the board of director is kind of what we consider responsible for the functions of an agency, especially a nonprofit. So I think part of is my responsibility to kind of assist the board does this the other members to make sure that we're governing the agency, and its success and failures in an a community. But ultimately, the board is responsible to ensure that the clinic is operating compliance with federal laws, state laws, local laws and regulation. And this particular board in itself works in the function body in collaboration with community, which is a little bit more less traditional than a lot of nonprofits, which tend to have that tear, we co share some of those responsibilities and work back and forth with the members of our collective
Hana Francis:I asked Marisol what she thought the importance of White Bird Clinic in the community is.
Marisol Cordero-Goodman:for, in my personal experience, how I found White Bird to function in our community, on some levels is to give voice to segments of our population or segments of our community that have been voiceless for a long time. I have always seen or experienced white bird in breeding that compassionate care, to individual who has undergone trauma, in some sense the word based on their interactions individually based on their interactions with society. And so my experience of White Bird it has been one of care, compassion, saying to that individual we are here, we may not have the answer, we may not be able to solve, what is the hardship that you are facing, but know that you are not alone in that hardship, that we will blend our ears, we will lend the resources that we have, and walk with you through that process as as we are able. And so that has been my experience of white bird in this community is when there isn't an answer there are there. There is no one to speak up that that the collective as a whole takes collective responsibility to assist in that process of speaking up.
Hana Francis:Giving people a place to feel heard and taken care of is what we strive to do. But we've come up against an issue. Not enough people know about white bird clinic and the services that we provide, especially those who are in underserved. So how can we help people if they don't know that we're here to help? Now a whiteboard medic worker for Cahoots tells me a little about this problem?
Neyo Leon-Monsalv:Well, yes, I mean, one of the things that I have noticed as working for cohorts on my job as an administrator, is that despite that we have been in the community for more than 30 years, 35 years for India again, and five years at Springfield, I guess, have noticed that the community, I still need information about us and what we do the community, they have a different vision and perspective about what we do, and how we're doing things. So and then there isn't the communities that I'm working on is the Latino community to be specific. We have, the data is telling us that out of all our patients, only close to the 2% is in the Latino community, which doesn't match at all with the percentage of the Latino community in the union and Springfield, which is about 16% or more. So those numbers they don't match. And is because there are many other factors as well. First, broadly, the language second, they have no idea about what we're doing, like so many other members of the community monolingual English speakers, for example. So, I'm been working on trying to promote the work that we do through my personnel and a wide media as well. And then letting the community know what we do, and how we're doing it, and why we're doing it. And what is our purpose and intention,
Hana Francis:accessibility and equity externally are an issue. But they're also an issue internally. wirebird clinic actively tries to address the white male dominated capitalist, hierarchical structures that our society still operates under. But it's an ongoing battle. Neyo says that CAHOOTS in particular is really trying to address this issue.
Neyo Leon-Monsalv:Go ahead, this is an organization that is super open mind. And, and they are, they want to be cultural sensitive. They are taking classes, they're doing a stylus, de escalation, training, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But when you put those things in practice is when you finally notice where you are in that range, right? So it's something that you need to practice every day like me as medic, I need to remember study, keep learning, what kind of medication, what is the dosage? What is the route, what is my patient, what are the signs and symptoms for an allergic reaction, etc, I have to get up with the knowledge, so I can perform my best. To me, Equity and Diversity is the same, we have to talk about that. We have to practice it. And if we make mistake, we say sorry, and then keep doing that. And in that process, we're gonna keep making mistakes. And the beauty of making mistakes is proving everybody that we're trying our best to do better.
Hana Francis:The services that White Bird strives to provide today have historically been provided by informal community support. But as towns grow and populations have become more mobile, the framework of community support, if there ever was one has disintegrated in our society, creating a need for professional community support. And people have different opinions on this, but I think this actually leaves an opportunity to look directly at how we can support people within our communities. And though it's still a long ways off, we have a chance to try to provide accessible and equitable human care for all of those who need it. In the coming episodes, I will talk to staff and volunteers from the many departments of whiteboard clinic to talk about their jobs and why the work they do is important to the community. To find out how to donate or volunteer or to get more information on any of the programs mentioned here. You can go to white bird clinic.org If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at whitebirdmutualaid@gmail.com. That's white bird mutual aid@gmail.com Thanks to the folks who contributed their time and voices to the show. And come back next week for episode two of white bird mutual aid radio to play us out, here's luck musician Sarah Adkins with her song treasure
Sarah Adkins:Treasure*"Treasure" by Sarah Adkins*